The best and the worst of Gross Out.

Philo Ridge 2012 Pinot Gris

Marguerite Vineyard, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, CA; 13.0% ABV
$5 at the Richmond, CA, store on 10 Feb; not much left

This wine’s presentation, with a nice label, in a tall, tapered (German-style) bottle, made it look quite promising. But what made me finally get a bottle was a regular customer’s coming back for a case of it. It’s pretty good, but not quite as good as I had hoped.

The crisp wine has lighter flavors of less ripe lemon, yellow and green melon, dry straw, and a slight yellow pear, with a smooth minerality. I recommended it to a customer who wanted a wine to drink at a crab feed, and I think it was a good choice.

The next day, I liked the rest of the bottle in the fridge much better. The lighter flavors had become more forward and integrated elegantly with the minerality. It’s still not an amazing wine, but the second day did push it into Thumbs Up for me.